It has been over a month since I last did a book review. Back in March, I knew I wanted to read something by Stephen King and I settled on his 1994 book Insomnia. I almost passed on it, but this is a book I have never read before, so that is what clinched it for me. The next book that I read of his will be one that I have read before I think. Since I only read on my breaks at work, I try to anyway, I knew that this one would take a long time to get through. Topping out at 787 pages, it is the longest book I have read in a long time. It took me just shy of two months to get through it, but I did at last!
Ralph Roberts is having a rough patch in his life. He hears what he calls a deathwatch as his wife slowly dies from cancer. Just before her death, Ralph runs into Ed out by the airport after Ed gets into a fender bender. Ed lives on the same street as Ralph and they know each other fairly well. Both Ralph and his wife think a lot of Ed's wife Helen and their baby daughter Nat. Ralph realizes that Ed is not acting himself as Ed believes the truck that he got into an accident with is carrying fetal tissue from aborted babies. Ralph and the driver of the truck prove that isn't the case to Ed, who them calms down. Months later, Ralph loses his wife to cancer and also begins to lose sleep. Each night he seems to wake up a little sooner than he did the night before. As this drags out, Ralph begins to see things. At first, he just sees colors around people, which he starts to realize are their auras. He isn't sure if this is all real or not at first, but starts to figure out that he can read people thanks to their aura. Ralph also figures out that Ed is also seeing the same thing, but he doesn't know how everything is connected. One night while waiting for the sun to rise, Ralph sees two "bald doctors", as Ralph calls them, coming from the home of a neighbor who hasn't been doing good health wise. Ralph eventually learns from these "doctors" about short-time, long-time and all the beings in between. He learns about The Random and The Purpose, who Ralph seems to be apart of. They need Ralph and his friend Lois to help them save someone that is very important to The Purpose, but will they be able to?
Insomnia was an interesting book in that I found that it connects some of his other books together. There is an obvious reference to The Dark Tower series and Pet Sematary as well. Maybe there are more, but those are the two that stood out to me. King takes his time in telling his story here. I found it to be a little slow in places, but I never felt it dragged or that I struggled to get through a section like I have with some of his other books. A lot of people love the characters that King creates and I don't feel that would be any different here. While we don't know a lot about Ralph and all the years leading up to when we meet him, it is easy to see he is a good guy and care about what happens to him. The same can be said for Lois, who we find out even less about. It is too bad that King didn't explore Ed more than he did for a couple of reasons. Ed seemed like a complex character. I was never sure how much Ed knew about what was going on, in that it was hard to figure out if he was allowing himself to be played or if he was just crazy enough to not really care. Another reason I wanted King to explore Ed more was just because there wasn't a main villain here. I guess the Crimson King, which I believe was carried over from The Dark Tower series, could be the big bad, but he doesn't show up for a very long time. There is also The Random's version of the bald doctor, which Ralph sometimes calls Atropos. I guess he can be considered the main villain, but he works for the Crimson King and is doing his bidding, so does that really count as being the main bad guy? Ralph is trying to prevent something from happening. At the very least, he is trying to prevent one death from happening. Time and not knowing everything is a bigger enemy than any person trying to stop him.
I thought that was the biggest problem with Insomnia, nothing really there to stop Ralph. There are threats made and a promise made if he stops it then someone close will die. It really just comes down to a choice. Will Ralph try to stop this bad event from happening despite knowing there will be repercussions? There was nothing getting in his way outside of his own conscious and that is where I wish the story had been different. Most of the book is Ralph trying to solve his sleep problem or trying to figure out everything that is happening to him. Don't get me wrong, this is all well and good. It was interesting and kept the pages turning, but I always felt like there should be more to the story. King kind of redefines the battle between good and evil in some ways. The whole being able to see things differently was a cool way of telling the story, but it was very inconsistent at times. King mentions that time goes by faster the further "up" you go in this other reality. Ralph and Lois do this often, but time doesn't always seem to speed up for them and it is hard to tell exactly how far up they go at times, which makes it harder to know if time should be speeding up or not.
I wouldn't call Insomnia one of King's usual horror novels. It bordered more on fantasy than horror in many ways, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good story. I thought that the main story was slow but interesting, not scary in the least but it was sad. The ending was especially sad, but not really in a bad way. I had less than 20 pages to go and everyone was trying to talk to me while I was trying to finish off this book. If it wasn't for the distraction, I'm sure I would have been in tears some because of the ending. It may have taken me a long time to get through this book, but I'm glad that I got around to reading it at last. I think it will just depend on what you are looking for in a King novel if you will enjoy this one or not. If you are looking for his usual horror stories, you will likely be a bit disappointed with Insomnia. That is what I was expecting, but I still found this to be a good story all the same. I'm not sure I would ever read Insomnia again, but that has more to do with the length than anything else. Since I don't read a lot, it takes me a while to get through a thick book. Plus, I feel I am a slower reader anyway. Even so, if this sounds like something you would like to read, I highly encourage you to check it out if you haven't already.
3 out of 5 Hate it when I have insomnia
Ralph Roberts is having a rough patch in his life. He hears what he calls a deathwatch as his wife slowly dies from cancer. Just before her death, Ralph runs into Ed out by the airport after Ed gets into a fender bender. Ed lives on the same street as Ralph and they know each other fairly well. Both Ralph and his wife think a lot of Ed's wife Helen and their baby daughter Nat. Ralph realizes that Ed is not acting himself as Ed believes the truck that he got into an accident with is carrying fetal tissue from aborted babies. Ralph and the driver of the truck prove that isn't the case to Ed, who them calms down. Months later, Ralph loses his wife to cancer and also begins to lose sleep. Each night he seems to wake up a little sooner than he did the night before. As this drags out, Ralph begins to see things. At first, he just sees colors around people, which he starts to realize are their auras. He isn't sure if this is all real or not at first, but starts to figure out that he can read people thanks to their aura. Ralph also figures out that Ed is also seeing the same thing, but he doesn't know how everything is connected. One night while waiting for the sun to rise, Ralph sees two "bald doctors", as Ralph calls them, coming from the home of a neighbor who hasn't been doing good health wise. Ralph eventually learns from these "doctors" about short-time, long-time and all the beings in between. He learns about The Random and The Purpose, who Ralph seems to be apart of. They need Ralph and his friend Lois to help them save someone that is very important to The Purpose, but will they be able to?
Insomnia was an interesting book in that I found that it connects some of his other books together. There is an obvious reference to The Dark Tower series and Pet Sematary as well. Maybe there are more, but those are the two that stood out to me. King takes his time in telling his story here. I found it to be a little slow in places, but I never felt it dragged or that I struggled to get through a section like I have with some of his other books. A lot of people love the characters that King creates and I don't feel that would be any different here. While we don't know a lot about Ralph and all the years leading up to when we meet him, it is easy to see he is a good guy and care about what happens to him. The same can be said for Lois, who we find out even less about. It is too bad that King didn't explore Ed more than he did for a couple of reasons. Ed seemed like a complex character. I was never sure how much Ed knew about what was going on, in that it was hard to figure out if he was allowing himself to be played or if he was just crazy enough to not really care. Another reason I wanted King to explore Ed more was just because there wasn't a main villain here. I guess the Crimson King, which I believe was carried over from The Dark Tower series, could be the big bad, but he doesn't show up for a very long time. There is also The Random's version of the bald doctor, which Ralph sometimes calls Atropos. I guess he can be considered the main villain, but he works for the Crimson King and is doing his bidding, so does that really count as being the main bad guy? Ralph is trying to prevent something from happening. At the very least, he is trying to prevent one death from happening. Time and not knowing everything is a bigger enemy than any person trying to stop him.
I thought that was the biggest problem with Insomnia, nothing really there to stop Ralph. There are threats made and a promise made if he stops it then someone close will die. It really just comes down to a choice. Will Ralph try to stop this bad event from happening despite knowing there will be repercussions? There was nothing getting in his way outside of his own conscious and that is where I wish the story had been different. Most of the book is Ralph trying to solve his sleep problem or trying to figure out everything that is happening to him. Don't get me wrong, this is all well and good. It was interesting and kept the pages turning, but I always felt like there should be more to the story. King kind of redefines the battle between good and evil in some ways. The whole being able to see things differently was a cool way of telling the story, but it was very inconsistent at times. King mentions that time goes by faster the further "up" you go in this other reality. Ralph and Lois do this often, but time doesn't always seem to speed up for them and it is hard to tell exactly how far up they go at times, which makes it harder to know if time should be speeding up or not.
I wouldn't call Insomnia one of King's usual horror novels. It bordered more on fantasy than horror in many ways, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good story. I thought that the main story was slow but interesting, not scary in the least but it was sad. The ending was especially sad, but not really in a bad way. I had less than 20 pages to go and everyone was trying to talk to me while I was trying to finish off this book. If it wasn't for the distraction, I'm sure I would have been in tears some because of the ending. It may have taken me a long time to get through this book, but I'm glad that I got around to reading it at last. I think it will just depend on what you are looking for in a King novel if you will enjoy this one or not. If you are looking for his usual horror stories, you will likely be a bit disappointed with Insomnia. That is what I was expecting, but I still found this to be a good story all the same. I'm not sure I would ever read Insomnia again, but that has more to do with the length than anything else. Since I don't read a lot, it takes me a while to get through a thick book. Plus, I feel I am a slower reader anyway. Even so, if this sounds like something you would like to read, I highly encourage you to check it out if you haven't already.
3 out of 5 Hate it when I have insomnia
